MP urges minister to give local post offices a fair deal for providing banking services

On the floor of the House of Commons this afternoon, local MP Tim Farron made the case for cash-strapped post offices in the South Lakes to receive the funding needed to provide banking services.

Speaking during Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy questions, Tim said: "One of the silver linings of the decision of the high street banks to abandon our town centres is that post offices are now able to pick up that slack.

"The Minister said earlier that she was meeting with Post Office Ltd and that the income that postmasters get from banking transactions has trebled.

"The reality is that they are getting a few pence for every £1,000 of work that they do for the banks, so a trebling is still a pittance.

"Will she ensure that the banks remunerate our post offices for, basically, doing the work that they have left behind?"

In response, the post office minister Kelly Tolhurst said: "The hon. Gentleman makes a good point about banks moving away from our high streets and the post offices picking up the slack.

"That is why I am proud of what Post Office Ltd has done in negotiating this new framework.

"I disagree with him when he says that what postmasters receive is a pittance. In fact, the remuneration has doubled and trebled; it has increased significantly.

"The Post Office will also be bringing that forward: it will be remunerating postmasters from October, rather than January, when the framework comes into place."